Agriculture
By Kudirat Musa
Abuja, May 16, 2018 (NAN) Synergos Nigeria, an agricultural transformation supporting group, says it will continue to collaborate with relevant stakeholders in efforts to make Nigeria’s agriculture sector attractive for the youth.
The Country Director of Synergos, Mr Adewale Ajadi, said this on Wednesday at the end of a stakeholders’ meeting, organised by Synergos and Civil Hub in Abuja.
“I have seen these few days that Nigerian youths are not lazy but hardworking and they are ready to put in their best in efforts to develop the country.
“I want to assure everyone that participated in the Hackthon Marathon of Synergos’ resolve to continue to make agriculture attractive and interesting for everyone.
“I want to reassure you that we have taken note of all your contributions and we promise to work with them.
“We will continue to collaborate, build trust and move our agriculture sector forward, while creating a reliable platform for farmers and investors.
“On behalf of the Synergos Nigeria, I say `Thank you’ for your contributions; everyone is leaving here today as a victor,’’ he said.
Earlier, resource persons, called “Hackers Experts’’, presented solutions that would integrate agriculture and technology in Nigeria, in order to tackle the challenges facing agriculture in the country and showcase its agricultural produce.
The first team, “Agro-Hub’’ group, in its presentation, created and shared a system that maximised agricultural production by tracking farms in Nigeria, where the farms were located and what they produced, while providing the best transportation facilities for the produce.
The second team, “Agro Tech’’ group, offered an information platform that could help Synergos to gather centralised information about farmers and their products so as to improve the assistance given to the farmers.
“Smart Farm’’ group, the third team, presented a combination of an e-commerce system as well as an application device which would allow farmers to manage their farms, buy and sell as well as measure their produce.
The fourth team, “Open Farm’’ group, presented a solution to the problem of getting agricultural data in Nigeria via an online platform which would make it easier for potential investors to invest in the country’s agriculture sector.
On the other hand, “Pacific’’ group focused its attention on connecting Nigerian farmers to the global marketplace by introducing a “Universal Warehouse’’, which would act as an interface to ensure food quality and security during food exports.
The other teams presented a web application and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions which would allow farmers to adopt improved farming practices to boost their yields and grow their profit in the marketplace.’’
The teams said that Nigerians consumed approximately 5.5 million tonnes of rice annually; stressing that stakeholders should focus more attention on making the cultivation of rice easier for farmers.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stakeholders meeting was organised to seek the input of participants in plans to create an information platform for farmers and investors so as to improve agricultural production in the country.
NAN also reports that three out of the nine groups were selected to engage in further deliberations in order to pick the best technology which would attract farmers, investors, off-takers and promote the nation’s agricultural produce globally. (NAN)
ROK/MOL/OOK
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Edited by Mustapha Lamidi and Dayo Komolafe